I want to welcome the team from Scooty. We’ve got Shoaib Ahmed, Yashin Shah, Moaz Ahmad and Wasif Khan. Welcome to the Legislature.

I’d like to welcome some of my friends from Brampton I brought today, as well as Bradford. I’d like to welcome the deputy mayor of Bradford, Raj Sandhu. I’d like to welcome Swami Sampuran Anand, who is visiting us from Haryana, India. I’d like to welcome Gurpreet Chahal from the transportation industry, J Line transportation; Satnam Sarai from Sarai trucking and transportation; Vipin Mishra, who’s visiting us from Germany; Bob Dosanjh Singh, who we all know is a well-known media personality in our community; and, as well, Jaswinder Sidhu. Thank you for joining us and welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to welcome my EA, my friend and our community leader, Nammar Cristofari, to the Legislature today. Welcome to your House.

I would just like to take a moment to welcome Warren Kinsella to the House today.

I would like to welcome Monsieur Eric Larocque and Monsieur Jean-Michel Fournier. Mr. Larocque is the long-term-care administrator at the Prescott and Russell Residence in Hawkesbury. Mr. Fournier is the housing services supervisor. They’re looking forward to the opening of the new 224-bed long-term-care facility next summer in Hawkesbury. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

It’s my pleasure to recognize and welcome to the House Senator Leonidas Raptakis, the state senator from Rhode Island, who is also the president of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association. Welcome.

Kirk Markowski is here, originally from Dryden. He works in the city and he’s a first cousin to our page Paxten, from Fort Frances. Welcome, Kirk.

I’d like to welcome a few individuals from my riding of Milton, representatives from the Landscape Ontario horticultural trades association: Joe Salemi, Jon Agg, Chris Morrison and Gerald Boot. Welcome to Queen’s Park.

This question is for the Premier. Early last year, the government’s own hand-picked Housing Affordability Task Force made 55 recommendations to encourage new housing supply. The task force said that a shortage of land was not the cause of the housing crisis. They recommended, in fact, that the greenbelt and farmland be protected.

Instead, the Premier and his government went ahead anyway and they tried to make their friends richer. Now they’re being investigated by the RCMP.

To the Premier: Why did his government rig the system to benefit a select few insiders instead of the people of Ontario?

The documentary The Movie Man made its way to its home in Kinmount at the Highlands Cinemas this fall. The premiere of the movie was hosted by what is arguably the most unusual movie theatre in North America, perhaps the world. For 40 years, the Highlands Cinemas has been a landmark, entertaining locals, tourists, camp-goers, prime ministers, rock stars and movie stars themselves. With five screens and over 550 seats, the theatre can host its entire town and more.

This would not have been possible without Kinmount’s own Keith Stata, the Movie Man himself. When movies premiere in the big city, they also premiere at the Highlands Cinema. Yes, even Barbie and Oppenheimer debuted there. As movie theatres closed in North America, Keith collected relics of cinematic history, imagery and pop culture, creating a museum of movie memorabilia that is a must-visit.

The director of the film, Matt Finlin, was inspired by Keith when he could come to the theatre in Kinmount as a young boy. The resulting work captured the whimsical uniqueness of the theatre and the thrilling experience of going to the movies.

As The Movie Man makes its debut this spring, be sure to see it at the Highlands Cinemas in Kinmount for the best movie museum experience and, of course, the best popcorn you’ll ever eat. See you at the movies.

That concludes our members’ statements this morning.

I beg to inform the House that pursuant to standing order 9(g), the Clerk has received written notice from the government House leader indicating that a temporary change in the weekly meeting schedule of the House is required, and therefore, the afternoon routine on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, shall commence at 1 p.m.

We also have with us a former member of the Legislature who served the riding of Kitchener Centre in the 38th, 39th and 40th Parliament, John Milloy. Welcome back to the Legislature, John. Good to see you.

Members will know that traditionally, British Speakers have had a dangerous job as messenger to the monarch, and some of them actually lost their heads in the course of their duties. In Ontario—

Interjections.

I’d like to introduce some very special people in my life: my wife Ria, my daughter Vicky and her partner, Joe Mascaro.

Government House leader and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

Supplementary question?

The Premier.

Interjections.

The final supplementary.

Speaker, this government’s greenbelt grab, their MZOs, their urban boundary changes: They’re not about building housing at all. One of the task force’s recommendations was to allow four-storey multiplex housing in every neighbourhood. The NDP tried to add this into the government’s most recent housing bill and the government said no. In fact, the member for Perth–Wellington said the government was doing just enough—enough. Doing enough to address the housing crisis? Doing enough while housing starts across the province are going down and not up?

Back to the Premier: When will he start putting people’s needs ahead of his own backroom deals?

The Premier has wasted over a year enriching his friends, throwing the planning system into chaos and making it harder to build the homes that Ontarians actually need, in the neighbourhoods where they want to live. Back to the Premier: How many homes would have been built by now if he hadn’t put shady backroom deals first?

Speaker, expert after expert has shown that we need to build at least 1.5 million new homes. The Ontario NDP supports this goal, but so far the government has relied entirely on half measures. Their whole housing plan is predicated on backroom deals, and now they’re under an RCMP criminal investigation. According to the government’s own figures, housing starts in Ontario—as I said—are projected to go down, not up. Clearly this government’s plan is not working, so back to the Premier: Will he get his government out of the backrooms and off the massage tables and start building the homes our province actually needs?

So back to the Premier: Will he support the NDP’s solution to build the non-market housing that our province so desperately needs?

Interjections.

Interjections.

Housing is a human right, just like health care and education and retirement security. If the private sector won’t build enough homes that are affordable for everyone who needs one, then the public sector must step up. It is clear this government’s plan isn’t working, Speaker. Those of us on this side of the House, we want to make sure every Ontarian has a good home they can actually afford.

Interjections.

Interjections.

As I’ve said on a number of occasions, we have been guided since 2018 by the principle that we had to build more homes across the province of Ontario. We had to undo the obstacles that had been put in the way by the previous Liberal and NDP coalition in this province for over 15 years.

Having said that, we made a public policy decision with respect to the greenbelt that was not supported by the people of the province of Ontario. That is why we have taken steps to put that land back and codify it in law.

Again, make no mistake about it: We will meet our housing targets. We will ensure that the next generation of Ontarians can have the exact same dream that previous generations have had, and that’s the dream of home ownership. We will not be moved from that goal, and we will get it done.

The Leader of the Opposition talks about MZOs. There are MZOs that we have done at the request of the city of Toronto to build social housing in her own community that she voted against.

So let me be very clear to the Leader of the Opposition: There is one party in this House that stands for the next generation of this province, who wants the exact same dream that everybody else has had for generations—why people have come here, why my parents came here, and that was the dream of home ownership. We will untangle the mess that they left behind and we will get it done for them.

But we didn’t stop just at housing. We knew that we had to do more on purpose-built rentals as well. They know nothing about this because at the time that they had with the Liberals, nobody was building rental housing across the province of Ontario. We have the highest starts in over 15 years. And you know what, Mr. Speaker? That is continuing to grow in Ontario.

We are going to continue on this path to ensure that we build more homes across the province of Ontario. Ostensibly, what we have to do is continue to remove the obstacles that they love and that they’ve put in place. We’ll continue to get that job done.

We have removed over $8 billion of obstacles, obstacles that stood in the way of small, medium and large job creators—including home builders—from doing what they do best: building homes. That is why, in the province of Ontario, we have a housing crisis. Do you know why we have a housing crisis? Because they supported the Liberals to put obstacle after obstacle after obstacle in the way, Mr. Speaker. We’re removing those obstacles. We’re seeing the trend on new home starts in the province of Ontario this year has continued to move forward. Equally exciting, colleagues, is the fact that purpose-built rentals are at their highest level in over 15 years. Do you know why? Because we’ve been creative about how we’re doing it.

This is a member who votes against housing in her own riding. She voted against MZOs for social housing that were requested by the city of Toronto. She voted against long-term-care homes, she voted against purpose-built rentals, and she votes against individuals who have—

The Leader of the Opposition has voted against every initiative we’ve done to speed up housing. They’ve voted against building 1.5 million homes, even though we set a record on building homes: The 30-year record in 2021 is 99,000 homes we put forward and they’re building; 2022, 96,000 homes that we’re building; and since the start of this year there have been 57,000 housing starts.

But, Mr. Speaker, they’re against building. They’re against building purpose-built rentals—

Interjection.

They say one thing in front of the media, and then when they’re in here, they vote against everything, especially—

Interjections.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing: This government’s greenbelt grab exposed a deeply troubling pattern of shady deals and preferential treatment for well-connected land speculators. Now we see evidence of the same activity around urban boundaries and MZO land deals.

Just last week, the Auditor General confirmed an investigation into this government’s questionable use of MZOs. Yesterday, after the flip-flop announcement on urban boundary expansions, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said he was still reviewing previous MZOs and emphasized, “The vast majority ... I am not concerned with.”

My question, Speaker: Which ones is he concerned about?

My question is to the Premier. Speaker, 30 years ago, the Harris government got us out of the business of building housing. If governments had continued to build at that rate, we would have built 1.2 million homes since then. Instead, Ontario needs to build 1.5 million homes to meet the current need.

Why doesn’t this government think it has a responsibility for building truly affordable homes?

This government has routinely given laundry lists of projects that did not work. Now is the time to think big. Private developers have said they can’t solve this crisis alone. The Canadian Housing Statistics Program recently revealed that housing supply slowed last year—slowed under this government.

Why won’t this government join us and get Ontarians back to work in good jobs, building the truly affordable housing that Ontarians need?

Order. Members will please take their seats.

I recognize the Premier.

Start the clock. The supplementary question.

Start the clock. The next question.

The supplementary question.